If Only
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Mirajane enacts the long con to get Laxus and Makarov to do exactly what she wants. If only it were that simple... - One-shot, set in the Motorbike series.


"Is your breakfast good, dragon?"

"The best," the man said as he dug right in. His demon had given him the works. An omelet stuffed with meat and potatoes, a stack of pancakes, a glass of orange juice, and mug of coffee all waiting for him when he awoke that morning. "Really, Mirajane, you've out done yourself."

"It was nothing, Laxus." She beamed from where she stood over the slayer. "Sometimes I just want to treat you."

"Yeah, well- Wait a minute." He frowned, finally, a forkful of delicious omelet stopping just before his lips. Glaring then, he asked, "What do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have to want something. You wouldn't do this all for nothing."

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked with a frown of her own though, just as quickly, it was turned to a bright smile. "A woman can't treat her husband?"

He eyed her still before, slowly, shrugging some. Mira was much less devious, in those days. She had little reason to be. He'd more than given her everything, those past few years. He'd given her the exact ring she'd wanted (Lisanna had a hand in this), shelled out mass amounts of money for her stupid wedding, the home she wanted, and, as of a year ago, given her that perfect little baby she'd only been talking about forever and a day.

She was living her best life. There wasn't a single other thing she could possibly want for that she would feel the need to be so devious about. Any monetary purchase, she'd make mostly without his consent anyways, and, should it be something massive, well, yeah, she might butter him up some, but…

"What are you buying?" he asked, suspicious once more as the woman only took to cleaning up a bit as she'd more than dirtied the place, cooking for the man. She made a bit of a face at him, over her shoulder, as she stood at the sink.

"What do you mean, dragon?"

"You have to be buying something."

"I don't have to be doing anything. Gosh, you'd think that you didn't want me to cook for you."

"You more than cooked for me. You made me a feast! Why?"

"Why are you so accusatory? Hmmm?" And then, in the distance, came the soft whine of their son. Mira immediately headed off to deal with that and, well, it wasn't like his suspicions were going to stop him from enjoying what was clearly a ploy to get at his jewels.

Their jewels.

But mostly his, he felt, in that moment, because they were surely on their way out.

"I think Torren just wanted to come sit out here with his daddy," Mira was saying when she came back, dropping the one-year-old in his highchair on the way. "If that's okay, dragon."

It was more than okay. He loved his boy.

But he was still extremely suspicious of the boy's mother.

Most of the mushed up banana Mirajane presented Torren with ended up being played with rather than consumed, but it was for the best as it kept him distracted far longer. As Mirajane cleaned up the kitchen though, she kept checking in with her husband, asking if he wanted a refill on his coffee and being sure that he'd more than been filled with the food she'd presented.

"I can cook you more slices of bacon," she offered more than once and oh, man, something was up, Laxus could just feel it.

"Don't you have to start getting ready for work soon? Demon?" the slayer asked as she cleared the table after he was done and, at the sight of Torren covered in his banana and now also sticky from the pancake Laxus had given him, she paused to make a face. Still, to her husband she showed no annoyance.

"Nope. Off day."

"You took the day off?"

"I happened upon a day off, actually, yes."

"Mira."

"What?"

He only shook his head though, when she came over with a wet washcloth to wipe down the not only messy, but also not truly fed Torren.

"On your one off day this half of the year-"

"Stop being ridiculous, Lax."

"-you decided to wake up early and make me a huge breakfast. Then didn't insist I at least help clean up. Why?"

She actually looked a bit disappointed in him then, as she made a face and shook her head, before remarking, "Why are you acting like I never do anything for you, Laxus?"

That made him feel like shit. Big shit. Because Mirajane did do a lot for him. Yeah, he'd hauled ass on jobs to afford her the life she always wanted, but it was only because of her that he was able to do that. She held down the fort. She reminded him what was important. She took care of him so he could take care of her. It was an even in put and out put. All the way through.

So he muttered something of an apology and Mira took it, of course, before going back upon what she was doing. Torren, not the least bit happy with this, only whined until he was given his bottle and even then wasn't too pleased that his mother took his mushy banana away. What kind of criminal does something like that? When you're in the middle of playing with it?

The kind of criminal that was intent, it seemed, on getting the kitchen all cleaned up.

What a monster.

What a _demon_.

"What are you doing today then? Laxus?" Mira asked as the man only collected his slightly grumpy one-year-old who only hit at his father with his bottle, annoyed with the man too for some reason. "Training? Or are you going to hang around the house?"

Well, he was going to head out on a job. But now that he knew his wife was also going to be home…

"Whatever you're doing, demon," he assured her as Torren gave into his fate with one late whine before taking to downing his bottle with fever. He had been hungry, after all. Just not willing to give up his playtime. "Unless you wanted me out of the house-"

"Of course not." She even smiled so sweetly over at him that he was soothed, completely, of the idea that she might possibly be trying to put one over on him. "We'll spend the day together."

It had been a bit, since they'd done that, but Torren was more than happy to have both parents around for the day. He'd been getting better and better practicing his steps and was gonna walk soon, Laxus was sure. They worked on that some as well as took a walk down to the park and even napped, just the two of them, when they got home, so Mira could start on lunch.

It was an overall great day, honestly.

Laxus hadn't felt so relaxed in awhile.

After they put Torren to bed (it wasn't too difficult that night; he was all tuckered out from his big day), they ate a nice dinner before retiring themselves rather early. Mirajane did have work in the morning and, well, heh. Well.

It was once everything settled down some and Laxus was trying to doze off that Mirajane woke him by speaking again, shifting closer once more to his side of the bed.

"Are you still up?" she asked. "Dragon?"

"Somewhat," came the groggy response from where his head was buried deeply into a pillow. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just was thinking."

"Mmmm."

She did that for the both of them in those days and he was definitely thankful.

"Today was so great. The best, really."

"Really," he muttered through a bit of a yawn.

"I mean, I did feel a little bit like something was missing. Maybe."

"Like what?"

"Like Master."

"Mmmm." He even let out a long sigh. "Wont' be that for much longer."

"That's what I'm getting at. Just imagine it, Lax. Soon enough, he won't be working anymore and he can spend every day, if he wants, with Torren. Wouldn't that be nice? I think it will be."

"Yeah, but, demon, when he's not working up at the guild anymore," the slayer told her with a bit of a frown, "I will be."

"I know," she agreed with a bit of a grin that he only saw through bleary eyes. "But imagine it. When you're not around, Master would be there to spend time with him. Isn't that something you want? It's what I want."

"Guess so."

"So you agree then? That Master should spend as much time with Torren as he can and would want, right?"

"I guess, Mira, but-"

"Okay, that's all I needed." And she pressed a kiss to his cheek then before shifting away from him. "Goodnight, dragon."

He was too tired (and confused) to protest.

Mirajane got up bright and early the next morning to, first, tend to Torren, then wake his sleepy father and remind him that the baby was in his crib once more, but would want out soon enough, to which she got some tired grunts in return, before heading out to get the guild in order. With her having been gone the entire day before, she had no doubt that her sister, who'd filled in for her, and Kinana had done what they could to keep it in order, but ultimately failed.

They failed at that a lot.

But no matter. Mirajane didn't hold it against them. No one understood the guildhall as well as them. It wasn't their faults.

She was still very busy cleaning up and getting the place into opening order when Makarov showed up, early as always. Once, this was to get a head start on any paperwork or other business with the guild. Now, it was for another reason completely.

"Good morning, Master."

He muttered something of a greeting tiredly as he came up to the stool, the woman quickly placing his breakfast before him.

"Thank you, my dear," he sighed softly.

He was too old, his grandson and the man's wife had deemed, to be messing with that old stove of his. Fire hazard. He protested, of course, at first, until he accidentally caught his apartment on fire and had to have Erza come over and put it out, fearful of alerting anyone else and being deemed unable to live alone. Erza deemed him of this, of course, but also was thankful for being able to final have an excuse to use her fire brigade outfit and, well, she told the Master if he had any other sort of personal emergencies and she was in town, to alert her first. She had many other one off outfits that would suit such situations perfectly.

"Did Lisanna take care of your meals last night like I asked?"

"She did just fine," he assured the woman with something close to honest, but just not quite.

More than likely Lisanna had forgotten, been too busy to be timely, or any other sort of thing that happens to someone not as committed to the old man as Mirajane was. Because she definitely was. He was more than just her grandfather-in-law. Even without Laxus, she was pretty close to seeing the man as something of a second father. This wasn't too unlike many of the children he'd taken in during his length as Master of Fairy Tail, but the main difference was how they showed their appreciation. Natsu, Gray, they all wanted him to see them in their truest strength. That because of him, they'd become strong.

But Mira had already been strong, before she met him. Instead, he helped her harness this strength, not garner it, and more over, he helped her to see where her true strength lied. It was him that saved her from falling down true darkness after her sister's death. She owed him more than just her magic and ability to use it. She owed him more than her life. She owed him everything she had currently. Love wasn't something that could be measured, but she was sure that hers was at least a little different than all the others. She had a father and mother that she was more than old enough to remember and, even, really, might have survived without Fairy Tail. But she'd have never gotten through the second part of her teenage years without the man.

Never.

Him being Laxus' grandfather and therefore sealing her into relation with the man only counted as excess, really.

"And you took your pills last night? And this morning?" she asked the man then as she went back to what she was doing. As she began polishing the beer mugs set out along the counter top, the man only became suddenly interested in staring right at his plate of eggs.

"Mmmhmm," he hummed without glancing up and she only frowned.

"Master-"

"Mirajane, you don't know what it's like. What pills do to you. How terrible the taste."

"If you're tasting them, you're doing it wrong. You swallow them, not chew them."

"They have a taste even still!"

"Master-"

"They're too big."

"I ground up the ones that I can, but-"

"I've lived many years without them and-"

"Why can't you just admit that you forgot?"

"I didn't forget anything."

"Well, anyways," she said while making a bit of a face at him. "Did you want to hear about Torren? He had a very fun day yesterday. Laxus stayed home too."

Well, no grandparent could resist that sort of offer. Especially not a great-grandparent.

Mirajane peppered him with stories all about her son as Makarov sat to attention and grinned quite frequently as well as lamented, along with Mirajane, about not being able to be around him as much.

"When you finish up your duties here though," she kept right up, "that'll be different, won't it?"

"I suppose so. I won't have to come around nearly as much and be able to go to see him. I've thought a lot about it, actually. He and I-"

"But oh, Master, I just thought of something."

If just thinking of something implied that it had been all you'd contemplated, plotted, and schemed for months.

"What's that?"

"Your days are still going to be all messed up," she tsked. "I have to work, you know. And even if Torren was with you all day, he still would have to be fed. You would have to be fed. So you'd have to bring him up here, I guess? But oh, he's too young for that, every day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? No. We couldn't have htat, could we?"

"Of course not."

"Well, Lisanna takes care of him a lot for me, when she's able to, so I suppose she could make your meals-"

"No!" And he coughed, after saying this, frowning a bit as he looked off. "I mean… I would much rather you cook for me. Lisanna..."

"She tries, Master."

He grunted some before sighing and saying, "I don't know, Mirajane, what we will do. When the time comes."

"When the time comes," she agreed with her own sigh. "If only there was some way that you could be at my and Laxus' house when I make him breakfast, where the already prepared lunch is waiting for you, and I would be home in time for dinner. But you just don't live close enough that I would want you walking all that way, every single day."

"Walking is good for an old soul."

"Not that much, Master, it's not."

"Well-"

"If only," Mira sighed again, louder, and the man stayed silent that time as he more piicked as his meal, as if lost in his own thoughts.

And, with both seeds planted, Mirajane began to nurture the ideas.

She told Laxus frequently how she worried over Makarov and how she just wished, somehow, that he lived a bit closer. So she could be around him and Torren when she wasn't working. To make sure he took his pills and that he wasn't drinking so much. Why did he drink so much? Hmmm. If only he had something else to do with his evenings.

"Like you do now," she added as the man hardly glanced up from where he was stretched across the living room floor with his son, playing with blocks. "Dragon."

"Yeah," he agreed. "If only."

With Makarov, she was quite the same. Lamenting frequenttly how much Torren was growing, but oh, if only he could see him everyday. Wouldn't that be something?

"Did you spend every day with Laxus, Master?"

"Not when he was this young, no," he remarked softly with a bit of a frown. "Ivan either. You miss so much."

"I'm sure."

It all came to a head a few weeks later when, about three days before they would have the official handing over of the guildhall to Makarov, Mirajane forced both her Dreyar men to have dinner at the house.

"The last time you'll be a fairy, Master," she remarked with a bright grin. "And the last time you won't be my master, Laxus.'

"I will always be a fairy, Mirajane," the man grumbled to her and Laxus only snorted.

"And I'll never be your master."

Still, Makarov came over early, to spend time with Torren (and his grandson, by default) while Mirajane continued preparation on the big dinner. It was a hearty meal and both men devoured it, leading to both starting to decline dessert, but eventually giving in.

"None for me though," Mira sighed as she went to work clearing the table instead. "I have to get this all cleaned up before bed."

"Demon, I'll help out," Laxus started (if not with a bit of hesitance; he really didn't want to), but she only shook his head.

"It would be nice to have help sometimes though," she sighed as she left the dining room. "Around the house and things. Especially now that you'll be on a much more rigid schedule, Laxus."

"Yeah," he agreed, watching after her. "It would, huh?"

"You and Master talk about something else though," she added over her shoulder. "I'm sure there's a lot for the current Master and future one to talk about."

Oh, there was.

It was concise too.

When Mirajane arrived back into the room with coffee for both men, they'd come to a conclusion.

"I don't want a...nanny. What?" Mira frowned at the pair's suggestion. "That's...no."

"Yes," Laxus insisted as Makarov only nodded.

"She can cook for me, bring Torren over, care for him during the day," the older man listed off as her husband only nodded.

"We'll split it, me and Gramps," Laxus added. "The cost. Then you won't be as overworked as you are, demon."

"That's not-"

"It's the only way, Mirajane," Makarov insisted. "Don't fight it. It's fine to have help. You've done so much, for the both of us, and-"

"No!" And she didn't mean to lose her patience like that, but she just couldn't help it. She was beyond peeved that her entire planning, from the very beginning, was unraveling because the two Dreyar men were just absolutely incapable of intelligent thought.

And that was coming from the woman who exuded such incapability!

"Demon-"

"Mirajane-"

"I did _not_ have you buy this damn house with the extra bedroom, Laxus, for you to move some other woman in to take care of my son."

"I wouldn't want her here anyways. No one said anything about a live-in." Then he paused. "Although-"

"What are you getting at, Mirajane?" Makarov asked then. "I don't think you mean to imply that Laxus would ever-"

"I'm not implying anything," she kept in her pissed off voice. Just the sound of it made Laxus' head hurt and fear for a long, sleepless night on the couch. And all for trying to do the right thing. Wow. He wouldn't do that again. "I'm telling you flat out that it's not going to be for anyone. At all. Except for-"

"Yeah, I know, when we have another kid." Laxus tried not to cringe at the thought. He loved Torren. Loved him to death. But he was still in the hellish diapers, spit up, and crying phase of infanthood. Gross. No way did Laxus want another one of those any time soon. Not for another...ten years or so. A decade was long enough for him to forget about the long nights and crying jags (that he, himself, had, from not getting any real sleep).

"No. If you would listen to me more than once, you would have realized that was a lie," Mira told him with an angry glare.

"Oh, so we lie to one another now? But I'm in trouble for not listening to the right part of the lie?"

"I want," she continued on as her husband glared himself some, "Torren and his siblings to grow up all in the same room, to have the same bonding experience that me and my siblings got."

"You lived in a one room shack, Mira! With no power! And a huge lake of adult supervision!"

"It was a bonding experience, Laxus!"

"What do you want the room for then?" Makarov cut them off with a glance between the pair. "and what does that have to do with-"

"Do I really have to spell it out for the two of you?" Mira asked in a tone she rarely got to use. No, she typically didn't play the clever one. Coy was far more her ploy. "Huh?"

"Yes," the Master said slowly.

"Well, since you've already made a big scene, woman, you might as well," the almost Master growled angrily.

"I want- No, he is," she corrected them. "Master is going to move into that room and live with us. So both of you get over it."

"He's what?"

"I am not!"

"He's moving in, Laxus, so shut up because I do not want to hear it," she told her husband with a glare. The man was already moving to get out of his chair, for some reason, as if this would lead to a bigger protest. Makarov, would was doing the same, got a glare of his own as Mirajane told him, "And you're doing it, Master. I don't want to hear it from you either."

But she did.

She heard it from the both of them.

A lot from both of them.

Her little plan, her devious little plan, was going up in smokes and there was nothing she could do to save it.

"I can't leave my house."

"I will leave my house, if he moves in here."

Then, together, they both remarked often, "Damn it, Mirajane, no!"

She was so close to just crying and hoping for the best (honestly, she wasn't so sure she could, she was so pissed at the pair of them for not being as duped as easily as she'd hoped) when, finally, their loud yelling had woken the one person in the house that could truly get some peace, if only momentarily.

Mira rushed off to go calm her son while Laxus and Makarov stayed pouting in the dining room, both grumbling under their breaths about the woman.

"She has no decency," Makarov huffed. "Trying to trick an old man. You hear that? Boy? You married a woman without any honor."

"Who the fuck does she think she is?" Laxus grumbled to himself. "Tell me what I'm going to do and what not. I'm the fucking man of this house. Me. It's my house. Tricking me. Demon. She's a demon. Should be exorcised. Fucking Satan."

Makarov sighed, hearing that out of his grandson's mouth and said, "Don't say that. Mirajane does more for you-"

"More for me? She does more for you than-"

"Mirajane does a lot for both of us," the older of the two finished. "She was only trying to help."

"She was only trying to get her way." Laxus blew some air out of his nose. "Where does she get off? Huh? She can't force you to move out of your house, Gramps."

"Of course not."

"Or force me to let you stay here." Then he glanced up and over at the man. "I mean, if you wanted to- If you had to, I mean, because of… Then you could because… But you don't."

"And I'm not _not_ doing it because there is anything wrong with the two of you. But a young married couple should live alone. Not with a burden-"

"You're not a fucking burden, Gramps."

"Laxus-"

"You're not." Then he looked off. "But your house-"

"I love my house."

"It's a nice place for an old man."

"I can probably still even cook there, if-"

"Gramps-"

"I could."

Laxus felt something then, in the deepest pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure what it was. But he was certain it wasn't planted there by the damn demon. No way. But…

"Gramps, just move in with us."

"Laxus, I won't. I refuse. I-"

"Please? For me?"

"I have my own home and own life and-"

"Mira can't stretch herself between helping me at the guild and-"

"Then we will get her help. Like we said. We-"

"Gramps-"

"I won't-"

"Torren won't go back to sleep."

A much softer, kinder Mirajane returned then, to them, with the infant in her arms. He was fussing just a bit and reaching at the immediate sight of his father for the man. Laxus took him easily and the boy rested far better there, with the man, as he was who he'd heard screeching before (he knew his father's roar's anywhere, after all). Just the feeling of him there, in his arms, made Laxus lose some of the tension and as Mirajane leaned over them, to press a kiss to Torren's head, it happened to Makarov too. What had happened with Laxus.

The seeds had sprouted, grown, and were ready to be harvested.

He hadn't had a good relationship, Makarov hadn't, with his wife. Ivan a worse with his. But the idea that his grandson and Mirajane ever going through that bothered him greatly. It was a natural order of life, of course, and divorce was far too common than many would guess, and yet the old man cared more for the sanctity of Laxus and Mira's than he ever had his own.

That was part of why he thought that he shouldn't move in with them. Because that in itself would be stressful and could been too strenuous on them.

But a bigger part of him realized how strenuous he'd already been.

And Torren, precious Torren… He'd ruined Ivan from the beginning, got lost somewhere along the way with Laxus, but Makarov could have a real impact on Torren when he was young. Even if the boy would only forget it eventually. Especially if the boy would only forget it eventually. It would mean something to Makarov.

It would mean everything to Makarov.

"I'll move in," the man announced, getting the couple to glance over at him though Torren only continued to droop his eyes and think, once more, of sleep. "I will need to organize my things and my house will have to be seen to, but-"

"Do you mean it, Master?" Mirajane asked as she came over to him while Laxus only stared across the table at him, silently. "Really? Please say yes. This would mean so much to us. Maybe not Laxus right now, but-"

"I mean it, my dear," he assured her and Mirajane clapped, all the tension flee from her while Laxus only studied his grandfather, waiting for me.

There was always more.

Always.

He was right too.

"Of course, I'll require a few things, to move in," he kept up. "Use of the stove-"

"No," Laxus grumbled.

"If someone's home," Mira offered.

"No," Laxus reiterate louder.

"Only if I'm home and Laxus is not," Mira tried once more.

"Damn it, demon-"

"Not in front of the baby."

It wasn't all set in stone that day, but it would be soon. Just as, soon enough, Fairy Tail was no longer giving Makarov gray hairs and instead starting to ruin Laxus' already familial hairline.

Breakfast, honestly, being that the two men were home nearly daily for it together, each morning, before dawn, was probably the biggest adjustment.

"She didn't make all that bacon for you, old man."

"All you said you wanted was toast and coffee. So obviously-"

"Toast and coffee implies bacon!"

"In what way, boy?"

"Don't call me boy in my own house."

But Mirajane hummed through it, every single time, as she would only get Torren ready for his day.

"How lucky are you, Torren?" she asked him softly, frequently, as he only sputtered in return. "To have the two Dreyar men willing to live together? Just to be around you?"

About as lucky as her.

Just about.


End file.
